Song of the Barren Orange Tree

Song of the Barren Orange Tree - meaning Summary

Escape from Reflected Self

Lorca's brief lyric presents a speaker who pleads to be freed from his reflected, barren self. Repeating the woodcutter's command, the poem frames identity as a tormenting mirror that multiplies fruitlessness by day and night. The speaker longs to erase self-awareness and retreat into dreaming, where decay and emptiness are transmuted into birds and foliage. The poem captures a desire to escape selfhood and transform sterility into imaginative renewal.